Andy Burnham to become first prime minister to join Celebrity Gogglebox

Andy Burnham is set to become the first prime minister to appear on Channel 4’s Gogglebox when he takes part in a celebrity charity version of the show tomorrow night.

The Labour leader was pictured sitting on the sofa in Downing Street alongside his old friend Steve Rotheram, the mayor of Liverpool, for Gogglebox for Stand Up To Cancer.

A trailer for the episode, released on social media, shows a close-up of the famous No 10 black door while the two men discuss snacks for their marathon TV-watching session.

Mr Burnham can be heard saying he has beer, Skips, pork scratchings, bacon fries and Twiglets, adding: “Twiglets are probably the best, aren't they?”

Mr Rotherham seems to plump for Skips, as long as they are prawn cocktail flavour.

They are described on the voiceover as “good friends Andy and Steve”.

He is not the first Labour leader to appear on Gogglebox for Stand Up To Cancer, after Jeremy Corbyn featured on the Channel 4 programme in 2017.

It is also not the first time the PM has been filmed discussing snacks. In August Anna Turley, a Home Office minister, was forced to defend Mr Burnham’s post ranking bar snacks to highlight a business rates cut for hospitality venues, saying his style was “reaching people”.

The episode is set to air on Channel 4 on Friday 22 October at 9.05pm.

The show, in which viewers watch celebrities watching TV, has attracted millions of viewers and won numerous awards since it was first aired in 2013, while Celebrity Gogglebox followed in 2019.

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